UK national rail strike after Easter

[John Ashworth]

Millions face post-Easter travel misery in four-day rail strike

Union officials in dispute over jobs and changes to working practices say network will 'effectively be closed down'

* David Batty
* guardian.co.uk, Thursday 25 March 2010 20.19 GMT

Millions of commuters face travel chaos after Easter as rail workers announced the first national rail walkout in 16 years, with a four-day strike.

The AA warned that the industrial action by the RMT and TSSA unions from 6 April would cause major congestion on the roads in and around London and the south-east and advised people going away for the Easter bank holiday to change their travel plans if possible.

Following the lead of Unite cabin crew, locked in a dispute with British Airways, the RMT and TSSA opted to spare families over Easter. The rail network is less crowded over Easter because most commuters are on holiday, but the unions decided that disrupting holiday plans and family visits would rile public opinion more.

Rail workers will also ban overtime and rest-day working for the duration of the strike. Union officials said the rail network will "effectively be closed down".

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: "RMT negotiators have worked flat out to try and reach an agreement that protects rail safety, job security and working agreements in the disputes involving signalling and maintenance staff on Britain's railways.

"Despite long hours of talks, we have received nothing concrete from Network Rail that addresses the key issues.

"It remains the case that Network Rail, in a drive to slash 21% from their budget, want to axe 1,500 maintenance posts, lump maintenance functions on to over-worked signallers, rip up agreements and impose changes that will quite clearly undermine safety across our railways and make another Hatfield, Potters Bar or Grayrigg disaster an inevitability."

The strikes were announced despite talks this week at the conciliation service, Acas, to try to resolve the dispute over NR's plans to cut maintenance jobs and change working practices to allow more work to be done in the evenings and at weekends.

The RMT said its 5,000 members working as signallers would strike on 6-9 April – the days immediately after the Easter break – between 6am and 10am, then 6pm and 10pm. The union's 12,000 Network Rail maintenance workers and TSSA's 800 members working as supervisors will stage an all-out strike from 6am on 6 April to 11.59pm on 9 April.

Edmund King, the AA president, said: "The day after Easter bank holiday Monday would normally be one of the busiest days on the road and this strike threatens to add to congestion and chaos."

King said problems would be caused by the combination of people returning to work and others going on a longer holiday after a weekend family break. He said Tuesday and Friday were likely to be the worst affected days and advised holidaymakers to travel on Wednesday or Thursday if possible.

A spokesman for Network Rail said all 3.5 million rail passengers would be adversely affected by the strike, with commuters in London and the south east worst affected.

"The timing of this strike and the time of days affected are designed to cause maximum disruption to rail passengers and minimum inconvenince to the RMT's members. We have a responsibility to get round the table with the unions to try to pin this situation down before 6 April."

Robin Gisby, Network Rail's director of operations and customer services, added: "Our contingency plans are well advanced and aim to keep as many trains running as possible. But a national rail strike will have a severe impact on services and on Britain."

Lord Adonis, the transport secretary, said: "A strike is in no one's interests and could cause serious disruption to passengers. Both sides should seek to resolve this dispute by negotiation and not confrontation and I am urging them to do so."

[John Ashworth]

Network Rail offers cash to workers to avert strike

Owner of UK rail system prepared to pay lump sums in attempt to prevent first national stoppage in 16 years

* Dan Milmo, Paul Lewis and Adam Gabbatt
* guardian.co.uk, Friday 26 March 2010 21.17 GMT

Network Rail was tonight preparing a last-ditch attempt to try to avert the first national rail strike in 16 years by offering maintenance workers a cash payment.

Millions of commuters are facing travel chaos straight after Easter, with rail workers planning a four-day strike starting on 6 April. Union officials have warned that the rail network will "effectively be closed down".

However, the owner of Britain's rail system said it was prepared to make "lump sum" payments to thousands of maintenance staff as a sweetener for altered working conditions.

The offer will be made in talks between Network Rail and the RMT union at the Acas conciliation service on Monday, a Network Rail spokesman said.

Network Rail executives are understood to believe that if a deal can be struck over maintenance, the dispute with 5,000 signallers can be solved too, bringing to an end an episode that threatens to disrupt the travel plans of millions of commuters and families travelling during the school Easter holidays.

"We will mainly be concentrating on the biggest area of the dispute, which is the maintenance side," the spokesman said. "We will be looking at what package of rewards we need to put on the table for the RMT, in order for the union to recommend the change in working practices that we need to see."

The Association of Train Operating Companies is working to ensure that passengers hit by the strike, including millions of commuters returning from the bank holiday, can switch tickets to another date or obtain a refund.

Announcing strike action yesterday, the RMT general secretary, Bob Crow, said his negotiators had worked "flat out" for a deal. "Despite long hours of talks we have received nothing concrete from Network Rail that addresses the key issues."

Crow is also adamant that Network Rail must rule out compulsory redundancies as it strives to cut 1,500 maintenance staff. So far the company has reduced the workforce by 1,100 people through voluntary redundancies but is unable to guarantee that there will be no enforced departures.

Gordon Brown has called on both sides to continue negotiations and reach a solution. The main embarrassment for the prime minister is represented by the strike dates, with the government expected to announce the date of the general election on 6 April.

[John Ashworth]

Network Rail challenges strike ballot in high court

RMT union strongly denies company's claim of widespread 'inaccuracies and deficiencies' in vote of signal workers

* Matthew Weaver and agencies
* guardian.co.uk, Thursday 1 April 2010 11.29 BST

Network Rail tried to get a high court injunction today to stop next week's planned four-day national rail strike by signal workers.

Charles Bear QC, for the company, told Mrs Justice Sharp that the interim order was being sought to prevent "unlawful strike action" by the Rail Maritime and Transport union.

The union has called for a four-day walkout from next Tuesday, the day the prime minister is expected to call a general election. It is fighting the court challenge.

A ruling is expected this afternoon.

In written argument before the court, Bear said: "The strike will have the effect of preventing about 80% of all rail services in the UK, so causing immense damage to the economy, to businesses depending on rail for freight and/or transport of commuting workers, and to a great many individual rail users.

"It will also profoundly damage the train operating companies and thereby the claimant itself which owns and operates the rail infrastructure and is paid by what it can charge the train operators."

Ahead of the hearing the company claimed there were scores of "inaccuracies and deficiencies" in the vote of signal workers who backed a walkout with a majority of 54%. Network Rail said the union broke labour relations laws in the way it conducted the poll.

The hearing will not affect two separate disputes involving maintenance workers and supervisors who are also planning strikes.

Robin Gisby, Network Rail's director of operations and customer services, said: "We believe we have uncovered scores of inaccuracies and discrepancies in the RMT's signallers' ballot that, in our view, makes it invalid.

"We want to find a negotiated settlement to this dispute and talks continue, but we have a responsibility to the entire country to head off this strike and let people enjoy their Easter break."

Network Rail said the irregularities in the vote included:

• Balloting 11 signal boxes that have been closed for years

• Recording more votes than employees in 67 locations

• Failing to ballot 26 workplaces involving 100 staff

• Balloting 12 locations where staff were ineligible to vote

Bob Crow, the general secretary of the RMT, said the legal challenge was a "scandalous attempt" to use anti-union laws to prevent the workers exercising their right to strike.

"RMT is putting together an experienced legal team, including some of the most high-profile employment law experts in the country, and we will be mounting the most robust defence possible in the high court against this attack by Network Rail on our internal democracy," he said.

Train operators are drawing up emergency timetables, and have warned that only one in five trains will run if the most serious industrial action by rail workers since 1994 goes ahead.

The chief executive of the Association of Train Operating Companies, Michael Roberts, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "If the strike goes ahead, it will be bad news for passengers and bad news for the economy.

"Passengers can expect disruption but the level of disruption will vary. Some routes will run a good service, others a less good service, but passengers can expect services to start at 7am at the earliest and finish at the latest at 7pm.

Roberts said that passengers with pre-booked tickets will be compensated if they are unable to use them because of the strike, but said companies are trying to be flexible to maximise the opportunity to travel.

The threat to services after Easter involves two separate disputes, one with signal staff, who plan industrial action in morning and evening rush hours, and the second with maintenance workers.

The RMT's 12,000 Network Rail maintenance members voted by 77% in favour of strikes. The Transport Salaried Staffs Association is also planning industrial action over the company's plans to cut 1,500 maintenance jobs and change signallers' working practices.

Anthony Smith, chief executive of rail customer watchdog Passenger Focus, said: "Passengers are being left in a state of limbo as unions and Network Rail fight it out in court, in the media and at the negotiating table.

"If this strike goes ahead, 3.5 million passengers each day are going to be inconvenienced and annoyed. That cannot be in anyone's long-term interest."

[John Ashworth]

Rail strike called off as judge rules union ballot was flawed

• Passengers spared chaos of four-day walkout
• Gordon Brown avoids risk of strike on day election called

* Dan Milmo, transport correspondent
* guardian.co.uk, Thursday 1 April 2010 21.08 BST

Millions of commuters have been spared the chaos of a national rail strike next week, and Gordon Brown has avoided further political embarrassment, after the high court blocked a walkout.

Network Rail argued that a signallers' ballot was riddled with irregularities and should be ruled unlawful. Mrs Justice Sharp granted an injunction against the Rail Maritime and Transport union today, stopping a crippling four-day strike by 5,800 staff starting next Tuesday – the day the prime minister could call the general election.

The RMT said the court decision was "an attack on the whole trade union movement", coming three months after British Airways secured an injunction against a 12-day cabin crew walkout by exploiting the same legal loopholes. Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT, said: "This judgment … twists the anti-union laws even further in favour of the bosses."

The RMT will try to restage the ballot but Network Rail said that would take months. Robin Gisby, Network Rail's head of operations, said there would be a normal service next week. A strike planned by maintenance workers to coincide with the signallers' walkout has been called off.

"Train services next week will run as normal," said Gisby. "This is good news for the millions of passengers who rely on us every day."

The Transport Salaried Staffs' Association, which was also due to strike next week, cancelled its walkout and said it would hold a new ballot.

Network Rail believes it can withstand a maintenance strike but had warned that industrial action by signal workers would see just one out of five trains running next week, with services in and out of London, where the majority of trains operate, badly affected. Around three and a half million passengers a day would have been hit, with motorists' organisations warning that the first national walkout in 16 years would have caused widespread gridlock.

The government-backed company added that it was considering a legal challenge against the maintenance strike after warning the RMT that the ballot also contained serious discrepancies.

Today's ruling confirms the potency of a loophole in the 1992 Trade Union Act that, until a few years ago, had not been widely used but has now become a favoured tool. The act requires unions to give companies accurate voting information, including the number of employees who voted and details of their respective departments.

BA's cabin crew union was defeated in the high court last December after it emerged that it had polled hundreds of flight attendants who had taken voluntary redundancy. The injunction was granted even though the irregularities made no dent in a sizeable majority vote in favour of strike action.

However, the RMT vote was much closer, and Network Rail argued that 112 of 4,556 signallers balloted could have changed the result. The company presented a string of irregularities including 11 "phantom" signal boxes that should not have featured in the poll. Over the past two years dozens of businesses have threatened or secured injunctions using the same loophole, according to industrial relations experts.

The transport secretary, Lord Adonis, urged both sides to resume negotiations. "This will be a huge relief to all those who are planning on travelling on the railways next week. It is now vital that the two sides in this dispute get back round the table as soon as possible to negotiate a settlement and I call on them to do so," he said.

Before it brought the injunction, Network Rail believed it was close to solving the signallers' dispute over changes to working practices, including a promise to subject changes to work rosters to local consultation. The RMT claims the changes, along with the axing of 1,500 maintenance posts, threaten safety.

Passenger Focus, the rail user watchdog, said the ruling had come too late for passengers who had cancelled or rearranged trips on the strike dates. "Three and a half million passengers have been living in limbo and now at least know where they stand after days of uncertainty."

Theresa Villiers, the shadow transport secretary, said the Conservatives deserved credit for the court decision, which was based on legislation passed by John Major's government.


RMT leader Bob Crow vows to re-run rail strike ballot

Page last updated at 02:59 GMT, Friday, 2 April 2010 03:59 UK
BBC

RMT union leader Bob Crow has pledged to re-ballot members after a rail strike was halted in the High Court.

Network Rail was granted an injunction after it alleged discrepancies in the RMT's ballot for industrial action.

It means a four-day national strike over job cuts and working hours, due to start next Tuesday, will not go ahead.

Mr Crow, the RMT's general secretary, said the judgement was "an attack on the whole trade union movement" and the executive would recommend a fresh vote.

Mr Crow said: "Workers fighting for the principle of a safe railway have had the whole weight of the law thrown against them."

'Shoulder to shoulder'

Network Rail's legal challenge concerned only the ballot of signallers, and did not relate to the RMT's ballot of maintenance workers and the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) ballot of supervisors.

But after the ruling, RMT and TSSA announced the two other strikes would be suspended and fresh ballots would be held, the timetable for which would be announced on Wednesday.

TSSA general secretary Gerry Doherty said the TSSA was standing "shoulder to shoulder" with its sister union to maintain unity.

BBC transport correspondent Richard Scott said that Network Rail targeted signal workers as the trains could not run without them.

Our correspondent added that Network Rail will hope their new ballot produces a vote against industrial action, but it was also possible that the court case would angered signallers and that the next vote would produce a bigger majority.

Earlier, Charles Bear QC, representing Network Rail, told Mrs Justice Sharp, who made the order, that "unlawful" strike action would cause "immense damage to the economy".

Judge Sharp said she had come to "a very clear conclusion" that the interim injunction should be granted. She also refused the RMT permission to appeal.

Robin Gisby, head of operations at Network Rail, said: "The signallers' strike is off and train services next week will run as normal.

"This is good news for the millions of passengers who rely on us every day, for our freight users and for the country.

"A dispute with the unions remains, however, and we have a responsibility to our people to continue talking to the unions to find a settlement that works for us all."

The RMT had planned to strike over Network Rail's plans to cut 1,500 jobs and increase evening and weekend maintenance work.

The union said the plans would affect rail safety.

'Huge relief'

In court, Network Rail alleged the RMT balloted 11 signal boxes that do not exist, and that in 67 locations the numbers of union members balloted exceeded the total number of employees working.

It also claimed that 26 workplaces were missed out, giving RMT members at these locations no opportunity to vote.

But Mr Crow told the BBC he did not feel he needed to apologise for ballot errors and the decision was "a travesty of justice for democracy".

"There's 1,700 workplaces and over 18,000 workers that work on the Network Rail sites, and we have to at any given moment in time before we ballot, name every single grade and every work location.

"By the time you finish the audit it's like the Forth Bridge - you start again because someone else has been promoted, someone else has been sacked, someone dies and so on. It's a moving feast," he said.

The BBC's Daniel Boettcher said Network Rail said it had challenged up to 300 votes in the ballot, which it claimed could have swayed the vote from a yes to a no.

"In the end, that wasn't actually relevant to what the court decided - [the court] didn't have to look at whether the way the ballot was carried out affected the outcome; all it had to consider whether that process had been followed correctly," he said.

Responding to the strike cancellation, Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said it would be "a huge relief" to passengers.

"It is now vital that the two sides in this dispute get back round the table as soon as possible to negotiate a settlement and I call on them to do so," he said.

Shadow transport secretary Theresa Villiers said the "unnecessary and irresponsible strike would have been bad for passengers, bad for business and bad for the economy" and "every effort should be made to negotiate a settlement".

"While Gordon Brown and his weak government were powerless in the face of growing union militancy, the strike laws passed by the last Conservative government have brought the country back from the brink of transport meltdown," she added.

Liberal Democrat transport spokesman Norman Baker welcomed the news, but warned it was "a temporary reprieve".

"It's time for Network Rail and the RMT to get back round the table. The RMT must put the problems of the railway ahead of political point-scoring," he said.

Rail customer watchdog Passenger Focus said passengers would be relieved.

Chief executive Anthony Smith said passengers wanted to see renewed efforts to resolve the issue, "not just a postponement of the pain".

Michael Roberts, chief executive of the Association of Train Operating Companies, said train users could "breathe a sigh of relief" and "hope the unions will see sense by not re-balloting their members".

But TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said the decision would "simply drag the dispute out and make it more difficult to solve."

"It's becoming increasingly easy for employers, unhappy at the prospect of a dispute, to rely on the courts to intervene and nullify a democratic ballot for industrial action on a mere technicality.

"Unions will be disappointed by this latest decision. Disputes between employers and unions should be settled by negotiation," he said.